Video: What 3D Printing Can & Can't Do

A 3D printer can create parts of virtually any geometry, but engineers need a solid grasp of the technology to make the investment in it worthwhile, experts concluded at a recent industry gathering.

”What you can accomplish is only limited by the designers’ creativity, and what they can incorporate into a CAD model,” Bryan Dods, manufacturing technology executive for GE Energy, told Design News last week. “But it’s not a matter of just putting the model in and having a perfect part come out. There’s pre- and post-processing that needs to be done.”

Executives at Manufacturing the Future Summit at Stratasys Ltd. told attendees that they’ve used 3D printing to build parts for generators, agricultural equipment, medical systems, and myriad other applications. They agreed that the niche for the technology is broader than many engineers believe, but not as all-encompassing as popular culture often depicts.

Over the past few years, they said, 3D printing has grown fast. Industry analyst Wohlers Associates told attendees that it expects the market for 3D printers to jump from $2 billion today to $6 billion in 2017 to $10.8 billion in 2021. The technology, which enables printers to make three-dimensional solid objects from digital models, has captured the imaginations of manufacturing engineers, as well as hobbyists, said Wohlers consultant Tim Caffrey.

Experts at the gathering emphasized that production volumes for 3D printed parts are small, but added that manufacturing firms are nevertheless taking a growing interest in the technology. Printed parts enable engineers to eliminate long waits for tooling, while speeding test and development in specific applications, they said.

”Our 3D printer was installed in June of 2012,” noted Allan Cronen, president and CEO of GVL Poly, which makes plastic parts for agricultural machinery. “The machine has been running 24 hours a day, seven days a week since then, other than when we started and stopped between jobs.”

Cronen told Design News that his company employs a Stratasys Fortus 900mc 3D printer as an alternative to rotational molding to build polyethylene “corn heads” for agricultural machines, but only in very specific applications. The company has benefited in two key ways: 3D printing allows engineers to quickly make and test small design changes, while eliminating the 16 to 20 week wait that would otherwise be needed for production tooling, Cronen said.

Thanks for covering this summit conference, Chuck. It's especially valuable to see what end-users have to say. Aerospace is definitely one of the major areas where end-production volumes are ramping, especially with metal parts. And much--degree of post-processing, volumes, rates--depends on the 3D printing technology being used.

3D printers used for food and meal look more like machines rather than printers. They consist of syringes and in those syringes instead of filling the ink liquid edible raw material is being added like chocolate syrup, sugar syrup and so on . Later these materials are collected layer on top of layer to complete the final output . It is also use to print icing on the top of the pan cakes . In future all restaurants will be using these printers in order to make their lives easier.

Yes Habib I agree with you this technology of printing is just beyond ones imagination I have also across some articles saying that different meals and food items are being made by 3d printers. Just imagine the food you eat will be 3D printed isint it exciting from all these technologies we come to know that development is just going beyond our minds.

Recently i was reading an article about applications of 3D printer, and actually came across a startup "Natural Machines" that combines technology, art and food to create something unique. They actually printed an edible cheeseburger using 3D food printer. They printed the bean burger, cheese sauce and the roll using real food.

You can check their facebook page for further details.

The applications of 3D printers is really beyond one's imagination and would play a very key role in the rapid advancement of technology.

"the Stratasys executives made a point of letting journalists know that the popular conception of 3D printing is inconsistent with the realities of using it in manufacturing settings. As you point out, there are a lot of applications that don't lend themselves to 3D printing."

Charles, what I meant is about clarity. What can be print and not; rather than populating unpromising things.

Depending on the software you use to creat your CAD model, the pre-processing can be relatively simple. If you are using a solid modeling program like Solid Works or Pro/E, once you have created your model it is a simple "save as" command to create the .STL file. If not, you need to make sure the part you modeled is "solid". By that I mean all surfaces are connected so you have a solid cross section. Imagine if your design was hollow. If you were to "fill" all of the walls, there would be no openings or gaps that the water could drain out. There are programs out there that can check and do some repairs, but I'm not an expert on that. Once you have the .STL file, you import that into the machine's interface. Stratasys has a very easy to use program. Once you import your .STL file you can orient it and add it to the build. The software automatically generates the .CMB file the machine uses to build the part with. Once you have your build set, you click on the print button and you're off and running. The process, interface, and file creation has gotten significantly more user friendly over the last several years.

This is definitely not my strength, RogeMoon, so we'll see if we can get an expert can help us out here. But as I understand it, a lot of the pre-processing is on the model side. You need to create an STL (steroelithography) file and, from that, a CGM (computer graphics metafile) file after your CAD file. I'm told this is still a big area of learning for most engineers. There's also a matter of matching your design to your materials and to the right process beforehand -- whether it's fused depostion modeling, selective laser sintering, or another 3D printing method. I'll see if we can get someone from Stratasys to jump in here.

We use them for experimental molds for silicon rubber moding compound. It works just fine, but we don't care about the rough finish. We just coat it with mold release and inject the compound. Really fast way to prototype something.

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